Monday, July 28, 2008

Since Wesley got so much acclaim for his walking feat, Will had to have a go...

With two it's never boring around here...

After questionning his competence in my former post, I must now sing my husband's praises because he figured out how to shrink my videos so they will go straight to my blog. He is the IT king! I think that is something to be proud of? hee hee!

This was actually about 2 weeks ago (again with my video ineptness!). He had never walked nearly this much, but Ashton was playing with him, and he just started walking all the way across the room. I hope you like the baby in diaper look. We were kicking it old school style!

were apparently also made for dancing. This is video of him watching the video of Ashton dancing to a High School Musical song. Anytime there is music that boy starts dancing which means bouncing up and down and swinging his arms! WARNING: there is nudity in this video!

I'm sorry you have to click and go elsewhere. Blogger video hates me. Any helpful hints would be appreciated. You'd think being married to a computer guy I would be able to do anything on a computer, but it was actually AJ that got me this far. Should I be worried that our entire lifestyle depends on Jon being paid to work on computers yet he can't help me get a video on my blog?????

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Ashton went to ballet camp this week. This was her first time to be away from me all day every day like that. I cried when I dropped her off the first day (get your rain coats ready for the first day of kindergarten), but she loved it. They were paired up with older kids, and she couldn't stop talking about her partner.

Here she is with beautiful Abi... Apparently the hip hop dancing really inspired some (or just one) of the mommies... Enjoy their tap dance to "These Boots Were Made for Walking". Please notice how Ashton continues to smile for the camera. At the end everyone else is walking off and she is still holding her pose until you see my camera flash! My sweet girl is so brainwashed, I mean well trained! It really makes me smile because there is a picture of me at my one ballet recital where everyone else has moved on with the dance and I am holding a pose for the camera!This camp was worth every penny because she loved it so much, but boy was it quiet around my house while she was gone! I just might go crazy from the silence when school starts although in the talking department Wesley is starting to give her a run for her money so it might not be so quiet after all!

One week ago, yes I'm that late, Ashton had her 3 BFF's over for a Fancy Nancy slumber party. If you're not familiar with the Fancy Nancy books you should read them whether you have a girl or not because they're too cute! So, we decided to have a fashion slumber party blow out. Everyone was greeted at the door by Ashton's concert poster...

My mom got her this runway for Christmas. When you walk out the front curtains music starts and the runway lights up. The banner at the top says "fashion show" then when you run out of outfits (we were to learn later that that apparently never happens) you can switch the banner to read "rock concert". It is so cute. So, we set the living room up for a fashion show.

I know the world is waiting to find out what kind of cake the "Cake Man" came up with for such a girlie night.Without further ado, I give you the purse cake...

Before a fashion show, every model must have a make-over and boy was I ready. I had a little tote with all the tools: glitter nail posish, glitter hair spray, body glitter, and glitter make-up. These divas demanded nothing less...

I LOVE my husband for taking these awesome mirror shots because you see in their little faces how they see theirselves...

Abi opted for a dress but can really bust a cheerleading pose... Mia was rockin' the model pose...

I'm not sure what look Jon was going for here, maybe that he's just one of the girls? I adore these sweet girls...

This is one of my favortie pictures...The teacher in me had to read them the Fancy Nancy book so they would understand the party theme. You see in the book they get dressed up and go eat at the King's Crown. So, we got dressed up and went to eat at Burger King...

I even got a little fancy with my pink boa...

I'm pretty sure we were the fanciest people to ever dine at Burger King...

Ashton loved her b-day crown and button that Mia gave her... After dinner it was time for the fashion show to end all fashion shows. This is just a SMALL sampling of the pics I took. Finally after about 30 minutes, I told them I was done announcing and taking pics because they would've gone on all night and still kept playing while I got the cake ready. Aren't they F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S?

We had to set a fancy table for such fancy girls...

This is my favotire picture of the night, the girls with their pink ice cream cups complete with sprinkles, of course! My goofy girl who will do anything for a laugh took about ten minutes to blow out her candles becasue it made her friends laugh...

She was a wild woman by the time it came to opening presents. You know I am ALL about the theme so she got Fancy Nancy gifts (yeah Target! and thanks for the tip HH). She loved the posh puppy...She was thrilled by her Barbie pool from Mia...

She decided to tackle Chloe after opening her dress...Unfortunately for Abi, Ashton loved the pj's she gave her...

After much debate over who was going to be on the tall blow up bed and who was going to be on the short one, I geniusly decided to turn the tall one sideways and stick them all on it! Abi, the little momma, was so sweet telling Mia that she would take care of her if she got scared. She even told her she was going to go to sleep now but to wake her up if she got scared, so sweet! When Jackson had his sleepover, Jon slept on the couch with the boys because he has to take care of the boys. He was giggling reminding me of that rule that I had to sleep on the couch this time. I had the last laugh reminding him that we only have 1 daughter whereas, he'll be sleeping on the couch 3 times! Everyone settled down easily, except me who woke up every time any of them moved! I'm sad that this isn't the best picture, because our tradition is to make cinammon rolls in the shape of their age. Five is not thte easiest...And now for the best part, we scrapbooked! I printed pictures off from the night before. Wonderful Donnie found these cute scrapbook kits in a circle tin. I loved doing this with the girls...

Chloe liked doing it but wanted to take it home to finish it with her mommy... Abi wasn't sure at first but once I helped her get started, she took off... Miss Crafty loved this and got into the rub-ons...

My sweet little scrapbooker would have done this all day long (chip off the young block:) Donnie also made us all these cool craft aprons with our names on them that fold into bags to carry how supplies. Are we cool or what?

Jon was proud of himself for putting together a Barbie pool... Every fashionista knows you must put on your own bathing suit to take your Barbie swimming... These girls were awesome. While we scrapbooking Ashton said, "Mommy, this is the best day of my whole life." Is that fancy or what?

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Yes, last week we went on a little mini-vaca, sort of! Jon was supposed to go to Knoxville for work. When he realized he would be gone on Ashton's 5th birthday he was VERY upset. He couldn't sleep for worrying about being away from his little girl on her big day. I thought that was so sweet. So, we decided we would just load up the entire clan and go with him. It was kind of last minute, but most of the time those are the best kind!

An awesome bonus was that two of my BFF's from high school, Brandy and Matt, live in Knoxville. We hit the road Tuesday afternoon. We had booked a hotel from the internet based on the important criteria of it had an indoor pool. I had to have something to entertain the kids while Jon was at work. On our way down Jon told his co-worker who lives there where we were staying and he told us it was a really bad part of town. We cancelled that reservation and figured we'd go to Matt's and let him help us get another.

Right when we got into Knoxville we told Jackson we were going to Mommy's friend's house who is a doctor. He said he wished he had his journal with him so I let him borrow mine. He started writing down questions about being a doctor so he could interview Matt. I thought that was absolutely precious.

Thanks to Donnie's awesome TomTom we found their house easily. This was their first time to meet the twins and our first time to meet their Jack. I have to say, outside of my four, he is about the cutest baby I have ever seen. He was so incredibly happy and clapped and laughed. He actually looks a lot like his mommy in this picture, but wait... I said he was happy, except he wasn't too keen on sharing all his toys with two wild boys! I love this picture bc/ my two have on their innocent "what did I do faces".

Here is Matt with his mini-me (him, not me, obviously). They even "accidentally" dressed alike! After a great cook out and catch up, we tried to get a hotel room. They were ALL booked! We couldn't believe it! The Rappe's saved us from sleeping in the van, God bless them (if we are coming to visit you you should probably ask for our hotel confirmation number because staying with them was so great we might start doing it on purpose!). They put us up for the night, Ashton's last night of being 4: After a much better night's sleep than we would've ever gotten at a hotel, we hung out with Jack and Bran while the men went to work. It really worked out great (I hope they will agree) because it was a great place for the twins to play, and most of all Brandy and I got to really catch up! Meanwhile, the big kids wore out her piano. It's a good thing Brandy has a high sound tolerance and Jack is a heavy sleeper!You know we had to do something special for Ashton's b-day. We took a trip kind of like this to Chatanooga for Jackson's fourth birthday. He had a button that he wore all around the aquarium which everyone commented on. He was so proud. So, I wanted something like that for Ashton but with an Ashton flair...

We sadly bid Brandy and Jack farewell. The next day when I asked what their favorite part of the mini vacation was, they both said Jack's laugh! How sweet is that! I hope we get to go visit the Rappe's again soon. After sleeping on their comfy guest bed, next time we're not even going to pretend to try to get a hotel :)

With Jon off work we headed off to Knoxville's zoo. We just renewed our membership to the Nashville Zoo, so we got in here for free! Ashton wore her birthday princess hat throughout the zoo, proudly! We thought the bears were pretty cool. We met a friendly red panda...Interesting fact: our twins do NOT like red pandas, at least not the giant stuffed version, especially Wesley who freaked out when he was still 6 feet away (Will didn't freak out until the panda tried to give him five) ...

Daddy calms them down with snacks and laments that we did not have the video camera out when they got hysterical... We had quite the camel encounter. After one scared me to death it decided to eat Jon's map...We were afraid we would be thrown out for accidentally feeding the camel paper, but no one caught us! Jackson, of his own devices, acting like a monkey!

This is Ashton's scared look... This zoo was SO cool because we were right next to the gorilla! On a side note, I absolutely do not believe in evolution but after watching this gorilla scratch then smell his finger I can see why they think men descended from them- heehee! Here was Jackson bonding with another gorilla. It was amazing to look into his eyes. The birthday girl wasn't too sure about the gorillas...

My 2 gorillas in the model gorilla nest... Jon with all his little monkeys...The twins were so good and really seem to enjoy themselves despite the heat...

Ashton and the red panda take a nap. These animals were so stinking cute. They might be my new favorite animals... I have no words... Again, nothing... Jon, who I thought I had trained better than that, left the camera to the side when we first put Will on the carousel. I hate we don't have a picture of it because he grinned and laughed like it was the coolest thing ever...

What fun... As every farm girl knows, it ain't your birthday until you've milked a cow... My girl loves some water spouts...

Jack on a lilypad... Before I knew what had happened, Ashton was fully submerged fully clothed... Nothing like toad wrangling for a good time...After the zoo, we had a surprise for Ashton. We took her to Libby Lu for a birthday makeover. This is something I wanted to do for her and was thrilled that Knoxville had one. This is her before, cute but not fancy!

How is that for a hair do... My girl had some sparkle and she loved every minute of it... She chose the pop star make-over. It was really cool and came with the outfit and accessories... I LOVE doing special things with my only daughter...

Jackson was so awesome telling her how cute she looked. He told her he would do anything she told him to since it was her birthday. She totally took advantage of that and even gave him a new name, "FarcusDiarheahead". Classy, right. That's how we Dodds roll! Daddy was so supportive and didn't even flinch at the bill, what an awesome dad! And the AFTER photo, F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! We finally got a great hotel for night #2 close to Jon's work. Snuggling with my new 5 year old...

Jon snuck out to work at 5 and the kids and I had the free continental breakfast complete with off-brand-horrible-stale Fruit Loops, yum! Then we went to hang out at the pool where, of course, Ashton reenacted the entire "Fabulous" song from HSM2. I even got it on video. It was hilarious... Jackson even got in on the action playing the part of Ryan and here he is being Troy Bolton when he enters...

In our quick trip planning, I was to hang out at the hotel with the kids until Jon got off at 2. We failed to consider that check out time was 12. That left me 2 hours to kill with all 4 and not knowing what I could do, especially with it being so hot outside. With the guidance of the Yellow Pages and TomTom, I found a local scrapbook store, yeah me! We went. The kids are really into scrapbooking right now so I told them they could each have $10 to spend. They really got into it. Jackson got all baseball stickers. Ashton, of course, found the glitteriest paper they had and wanted it in every color. Then we found a gated play area. I pulled the kitchen set across the opening and put all 4 kids in it while I finished shopping. It was awesome! We picked up Jon at work and hit the road for home. I even got back in time for Bunco that night.

It was such a great mini vacation and a perfect 5th b-day celebration for my sweet girl!